European elections: brief overview of the results

Photo credits: European Parliament

BACKGROUND

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- June 2019

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During the month of May, Lighthouse Europe devoted a series of articles to the European elections in order to understand how the European Parliament works and what are the challenges of this electoral period:

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o 1/3 – How are the Members of the European Parliament elected and what are their functions?

o 2/3 – The European political groups in Parliament

o 3/3 – Digital players at the heart of the European elections

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Following the elections, Lighthouse Europe offers a brief overview of the results at European and national levels.

Results at European level

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The 2019 European elections marked an increase in citizen participation. 50.95 % of Europeans voted to elect representatives to the European Parliament, compared to less than 43 % in the last two elections, in 2009 and 2014.

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As in the majority of national elections in the Member States of the European Union (EU), traditional political groups have faced certain mistrust of their citizens. The European People's Party (EPP) won 177 seats (down from 221 in 2014) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) 149 seats (down from 191 in 2014). On the contrary, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and its future allies - including the French Renaissance list of the presidential party La République en Marche (LRM) - won 107 seats, 40 more than in the previous European elections. The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) reached the fourth position with 69 seats (compared to 50 in 2014). The European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) and the Europe of Nations and Freedom Group (ENF) won 62 and 58 seats respectively. If the European Alliance of Peoples and Nations launched by Matteo Salvini succeeds in organizing itself, this European political group could constitute the fourth largest group in the European Parliament.

However, these results are temporary and the distribution of the deputies in Parliament will depend on the constitution of the new European political groups.

The increase in popularity of green and far right parties is leading to a fragmentation of European political groups, which will have to organise and form a consensus in order to form a majority capable of exercising their legislative, budgetary and supervisory powers.

Some national results

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In Germany, the Conservatives (CDU-CSU) won 28.90 % of votes, followed by the Greens (20.50 %) and the Social Democrats (SPD) who won 15.80 % of the seats.

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In the United Kingdom, Nigel Farage's Brexit Party reached first place with 31.69 % of votes. The Liberal Democrats ranked in second place with 18.53 %, ousting the traditional parties. The Labour Party obtained only 14.08 % of votes and the Conservative and Unionist Party 8.68 %. The Green Party won 11.10% of British votes.

At the French level, the presidential party, LRM, was overtaken by the Rassemblement national (RN), which obtained 23.31 % of votes against 22.41 %. Europe écologie-Les verts (the Greens) creates a surprise by winning 13.47 % of votes at the expense of Les Républicains (LR) - Union of the Right and Centre (8.48 %).

34.33 % of the Italians voted for Matteo Salvini's far-right League (LN). The Democratic Party (PD) is the only opposition party with 22.69 % of votes, surpassing the 5-star movement (M5S) which won 17.07 %.

In Spain, the SocialistParty (PSOE/PSC) won 32.84 % of votes. The conservatives of the PopularParty (PP) reached second place with 20.13 % of votes, followed by the centrists Ciudadanos (C's) with 12.17 %.

Next steps

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o May 27: Start of negotiations on the formation of European political groups

o June 20-21: EuropeanCouncil meeting with the Heads of State and Government

o July 02-04: First plenary session; elections of the President of the European Parliament and of the Chairmen of Parliament's Committees; validation of the portfolios of parliamentary committees

o Mid-July: Appointment of the President of the European Commission from the winning coalition in the European Parliament

o Summer: Announcements of the European Commissioners appointed by each Member State

o September/October: Hearings and election of European Commissioners by the European Parliament